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Football: Wolves are punished by Hamilton's late strike

Wolverhampton Wanderers 2 Robinson 10, Gray (og) 64 Huddersfield Town 2 Gray 59, Hamilton 90 Half-time: 1-0 Attendance: 21,778

Kieran Daley
Sunday 28 February 1999 00:02 GMT
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WOLVES' PROMOTION hopes were dented as they paid the price yet again for hesitation at the back when Des Hamilton pounced to earn Huddersfield a share of the points with his last-minute goal at Molineux yesterday. The game was deep into injury time when Ben Thornley crossed for Hamilton - on loan from Newcastle - to fire an angled drive into the roof of the Wolves net.

Wolves opened the scoring in the 10th minute, when Carl Robinson was on target for the fifth time this season. Robinson crowned a fine move engineered by the hard-working Robbie Keane.

The Irish teenager fired in an angled shot that was pushed away by Nico Vaesen. The ball flew straight into the path of Keith Curle and he slipped it forward for Robinson to shoot into the far corner of the net.

Huddersfield, without a win in seven league outings since Boxing Day, had a lucky escape in the 22nd minute when Robinson created a scoring chance for Keane but the striker's shot was poor and Vaesen was able to save easily.

Then, in the 34th minute, Wolves squandered another chance to increase their advantage when Robinson was the offender. A cross for Keane was nodded down by Havard Flo to the feet of Robinson, who only had to sidefoot the ball home but instead thumped it high over the crossbar.

Wolves were again at fault in the 39th minute when Neil Emblen opened up the Town defence for Flo but his final touch was weak and Vaesen was again able to save. The home team would rue their missed opportunities at game's end.

Kevin Gray equalised in the 59th minute with a close-range header from Simon Baldry's cross. Then in the 64th minute Mark Atkins slipped a pass to Simon Osborne, who pumped a perfect cross into the heart of the Huddersfield defence. Gray, trying to clear the ball, only succeeded in nodding it past his own keeper, who could do no more than palm it into the back of the net.

Then, in injury time, Huddersfield broke away to stage one final effort to equalise and their efforts were rewarded when Hamilton grabbed his last gasp goal.

Wolves' manager, Colin Lee, lamented the late lapse that is close to becoming habitual. "That's the fourth time it has happened and it hits you very hard," he said. "But the one positive thing to come out of the draw is that we have moved up a spot [to seventh] in the table, so that is something to build on."

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